Okay, so I asked you to take a look at this text over here and see if you could find anything else that reminds you of the Akeidah - the Binding of Isaac, other than this kind of double exclamation Yaakov, Yaakov, and Yaakov's reply; Hineini. I think there is something else, and it is a place name, where is Yaakov going to? Vayisa Yisrael v'chol asher lo - Israel with going with all of his stuff, and where is he going? Vayavo Be'erah Shova. it turns out that Be'er Sheva plays a cameo role in the original story of the Akeidah - in the Binding of Isaac, it's where Abraham goes to after the story of the Binding of Isaac, it's kind of the very last thing in that story. You see it right over here. Vayoshov Avraham el na'arav vayakumu vayelchu yachdov el Be'er Sheva - they went together, Avraham and his lads, to Be'er Sheva immediately following the Akeidah. So you've got this place - Yaakov is going to Be'er Sheva, Abraham is going to Be'er Sheva in the Akeidah, right in connection with this double Yaakov, Yaakov; Vayomer Hineini. You know, it's sounding a little bit more Akeidah-like.

Then of course let's get back to this kind of question we asked before, it turns out that what does Yaakov do when he gets to Be'er Sheva, so he's offering offerings. Offering offerings specifically to who? Not the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac. What happens of course at the Akeidah, Yitzchak - Isaac is bound, it's the Binding of Isaac. So kind of interesting, you've got the Binding of Isaac, the offering of offerings - of course Isaac was meant to be offered as an offering, was saved at the last minute. Here Yaakov is offering offerings to [the G-d of 1:44] Isaac. He's doing it in Be'er Sheva, the place they went to at the end of the Akeidah, and then he hears Yaakov, Yaakov, and says Hineini.

What's also intriguing about this is that if this isn't a figment of our imaginations, if this was really real, there's also the beginnings of a pattern that seems to be emerging here. In other words, if we look at the sequence of events in the Akeidah, let's just plot it out, these things that we've seen. The first thing that happens, number 1, is that the angel calls out to Avraham with this doubled-language, Abraham, Abraham, and Abraham answers, here I am. Now the next thing that happens, number 2 over here, is going to be that Abraham offers offerings to G-d instead of Isaac. Isaac was supposed to be sacrificed but in the end he offers offerings instead. Remember there's that ram caught in the thicket and he sacrifices the ram instead of sacrificing Isaac, after Isaac is saved. Then the next thing that happens, number 3, is that Abraham arrives in Be'er Sheva.

If you don't believe me you can go back to the verses and you'll see, it's 1, 2 and 3. Abraham, Abraham, here I am. Then Avraham goes and sacrifices the ram and then he goes to Be'er Sheva. These are the order of events.

Now what we've seen over here in Yaakov's life actually is these same events but in exact reverse chronological order. Really kind of fascinating. The first thing that happens with Yaakov - number 1 over here - is that he arrives in Be'er Sheva. After that he offers offerings to the G-d of Isaac and then he hears this voice Jacob, Jacob, followed by here I am. That was our order. So we not only seem to have Akeidah parallels, we seem to have Akeidah parallels going in reverse.

Again though, so I guess theoretically you could say, well maybe it's a figment of our imagination, three parallels here, still could kind of be coincidental. Any more parallels? I actually think that there are. Let's read a few more verses here in this text of Yaakov's encounter with this angel, let see what the angel says, and then interestingly, let's compare it to what the angel says over here in the Akeidah. I think if we compare it actually we're going to find a very, very interesting kind of relationship. So maybe if you get a chance, take a look at that yourself before we get together in the next video and then let's see what we find.

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